another bit of good news

Got a letter from the state of Michigan in the mail. Bill did well enough on the state mandated exams for seniors, that they will be giving him an academic scholarship. And it is even good for Ball State, even though BSU is in Indiana. That will be some thousands we will not have to scratch up.

Only one night left of work this week. Since I got stress diarrhea once again, that is a good thing.

My two elder sisters both sound as if they will be coming for the weekend and for Bill's graduation. Hopefully that will go well! You never know with family stuff...could be wonderful or a living nightmare...

a bit of good news

I just checked on the patient whose life I supposedly saved in April. Over the long weekend he started doing much better. He is able to sit up in a chair for hours now, is alert and able to joke around, and is able to eat and drink small amounts of very gentle foods and liquids. He is still in the ICU and has a long way to go, but he sure came a long way this weekend.

long weekend

We had a very enjoyable long weekend in Kentucky.

On Saturday we left around noon, and got to Lake Cumberland in the early evening. The cottage was very nice. It was two stories, with bedrooms and a bathroom in the upper floor, and a half bath, a kitchen, and the living room in the lower floor. It also had a wonderful deck, where you could sit and relax and enjoy views of the lake and of the surrounding forest. The lake was down a small cliff, and you could watch the never ending parade of boats for hours, if you liked.

On Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the restaurant in the Lodge (which had a wonderful view of the lake), then went grocery shopping in the little park store while the kids played miniature golf. Then we all took long naps. In the evening, Dan and the kids went and played golf on the little par 3, 9 hole course. Then they went swimming at the indoor pool at the lodge. Afterwards, we cooked dinner and relaxed. I called a couple of friends, which was very nice.

On Monday we got up and packed, then ate breakfast at the lodge restaurant and then started the drive home. Near Lima, Ohio, we ran into a horrible storm with torrential rain and hail while on the freeway. Everyone had to pull off to the sides of the road. You couldn't see a thing!

When we got home Dan and the kids installed the window air conditioners. It got really hot over the weekend. Unfortunately. I got diarrhea within fifteen minutes of walking in the door. I might have been exposed to a bug down south, or possibly eaten something funny, but it might also be stress related. I felt so much better over the course of the weekend, too. I was really bummed out when the sudden and frequent trips to the bathroom started once more.

I have started taking some steps to try to reduce my stress levels, beginning with one step I have been thinking about for months now...we will see if that helps...

 

At least I only have two nights of work this week, though I will have a lot of housework and yard work to do to make up for that. Bill's graduation is coming up this weekend!!!

 

getting ready for the long weekend

Today was a bit of an odd day. Dan told me at 3AM last night that we had to go in today to get the mortgage refinanced. We had it refinanced a few years ago when the interest rates were low, and initially it was great. Because we have good credit ratings, our initial rate was less than 2%. But it has been steadily rising over the last couple of years, since it was an ARM, so we went in today and signed a new one, at a decent fixed rate (less than 7%). So we did that, and ate lunch at a noodle place near Arborland Mall.

My period is horrible this month. Last night at work I had an overnight pad on the inside of my underwear, another on the outside of my underwear (thank God for those sticky wings) and I was using a tampon at the same time, but I was still staining through my clothing. And yes, I have been taking the medicine to help decrease the bleeding. It was sort of frightening, and I was seriously considering asking one of the lady pharmacists I was working with to drive me to the nearest ER not in our own hospital. I decided to stick it out, and today it does seem to be better. I am not having those heavy spurts of scalding hot blood today. That was what frightened me yesterday. It has got to be the stress.

I need this break from work, and from the greater stress of having to be around my former friend so often.

So today the kids have been going through and organizing our pantry. They are throwing out expired items and consolidating things (soup on this shelf, baking mixes on that shelf) and washing down the shelves with antibacterial cleaner. They are being absolutely awesome children.

I went to the store and got snacks and drinks for the trip. I have packed nearly all of the clothes, and only have toiletries and books to go. Dan will take Max to the kennel first thing in the morning, and I will sit down and pay the bills tonight so we can drop them in the mail tomorrow.

And then we can find out own little corner of heaven in a cabin in the woods down in Kentucky at Lake Cumberland State Park.

Beethoven's Sixth Symphony

Here are some sites with background on Beethoven and/ or this particular piece of music:
http://inkpot.com/classical/beethsyms.html
and
http://park.org/Guests/Beethoven/6.htm

and I even found a weird spoof site:
http://www.brumm.com/music/Beethoven.html

Now on to my impressions of this piece of music and why I enjoy it.

But first I must get my inner fangirl gushing out of the way.

Beethoven's music is frigging amazing! He was a genius! He has so MUCH passion!!!



As you can tell, the music of Beethoven just does it for me.

My all time favorite piece of music in any genre is his Ninth Symphony, but I am afraid to even try to discuss that, as I am sure that with my nonmusical background I could never even begin to do it justice.

After the Ninth, it is a tossup as to whether I prefer the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh.

But since it is springtime, I chose to talk about the Sixth this month.

Here in Michigan we have looooooooooong cold snowy winters. It is a rare and special occasion when we get to see the sun in the winter months. We have a lot of cloud cover in this part of the world during the winter. We dream of the sun, of being able to be outside without twenty gazillion layers of clothing, of being able to eat out on our decks, sleep on top of the grass in the sunshine, picnic next to a brook, hear the birds singing.

They must have plenty of crappy winter weather in parts of Germany and Austria, too, because Beethoven captures the great Michigander dream of a perfect spring/summer day out in the country in his Sixth Symphony. It is the musical equivalent of a gorgeous Impressionist painting of a spring day filled with flowers and water.

So come along on this beautiful June day for a picnic in the country. Listen to the babbling brook. Listen to the birds flying around and singing. Maybe a band will play for us, and we can dance. Maybe a storm will pass through ,and we can snuggle up together with a bottle of fine wine and watch the lightning. And then after the storm passes, we can relax some more with some sweet white wine and crusty French bread and delicious gourmet cheese, and plenty of dark chocolate and fresh fruit, and give thanks for our safety and happiness on a beautiful afternoon.

weekend is in sight

I am somehow making it through the week, but it has been a bit rough. Work is strange because of the supervisors' actions. Lots of tension there. My period started a full week early (I am guessing because of the stress) and so I am not feeling the greatest. The cabin in the woods in the park in Kentucky just sounds better to me every day. So peaceful, so lovely, with nothing to do but rest and be surrounded by beauty.

I will pick up some things we need for the trip (bottled water for the cooler and snacks for the kids) tomorrow, and get packed up on Friday. We will leave first thing in the morning on Saturday. It will be heaven.

 

sad

I am sad. The weekend was great, but going back to work tonight was awful. I found out one of my favorite people has accepted a job offer out in Vegas. Lord, I will miss John like crazy. On Friday (when I was thankfully off) lots of poop hit the fan. The supervisors are taking care of a lot of problems. I hate seeing people being disciplined, but on the other hand, I am also weary of having a lot of work continually dumped on me from people who are constantly calling in. I have no problem with people missing now and then for themselves or for their family members, but some of these people literally never make it through a week without missing time. Sort of like my former friend - having to cut things off with him broke my heart and still has me devastated - and I wish him no ill whatsoever - but I just can't take being continually hurt anymore. That is the way it is with these coworkers - I hate seeing them in trouble - I wish them no ill in the world - But I just cannot take the stress of always trying to do all of their work along with my own anymore. It is making me sick and giving me stress diarrhea every time it happens. And it happens way too often.

The weekend was good. On Saturday Dan and Bill were busy working, so I drove Steven out to Clinton for his soccer game. It was really funny, as one of the kids booted a huge shot. The ball sailed over the goal. It sailed over the large picnic shelter behind the goal. It sailed for quite some ways beyond the picnic shelter. It bounced into the Raisin River and headed downstream!   After the game, we stopped off for ice cream at the Dairy Queen in Clinton. 

I also got the vegetables and herbs planted. I was tasting the leaves of the herbs as I planted them. Lord, I love the taste of oregano, rosemary, mint, and cilantro!!! I am thinking of getting some more oregano and rosemary and planting them in pots to grow as house plants. They just taste and smell so good.

Today  I got lots of laundry done, as we have started a great cleaning campaign so the house will be clean for possible out of town guests for Bill's graduation weekend.